Palmier Ronier

The major threat to this species is palm wine extraction. Several subpopulations have been reported to be threatened by palm wine extraction in West African countries where destructive tapping methods are used, as in Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea (Camara et al. 1995, Mollet et al. 2000, Sambou et al. 2002). Due to the absence of protection measures, sub-population decline or even extinction are still being observed in many West African countries (F. Stauffer pers. comm. 2016). Some subpopulations are also threatened by cutting of the trunks for timber and by excessive fruits collections as reported in Benin (L. Michon pers. comm. 2016). The species is also locally threatened by the clearing and removal of palm seedlings in field-crops, which may affect the regeneration of subpopulations (Ouattara et al. 2015). However, these threats which may locally highly threaten the species, do not appear to affect its survival across its overall, large distribution range.

The species is present in 25 protected areas and 13 ex situ conservation collections (BGCI 2016). Due to the increasing scarcity of the species in West Africa, the cutting of timber was restricted in all West African countries, except for the Republic of Guinea, during the 1970s (Sambou et al. 2002).